Austrian Quilt Gruppe

I spent a lovely day with Austrian quilters Lilo and Dani last week while I was in Vienna.

Daniele Samec's work, detail.
Hand dyed fabric and free-motion quilting with her long arm machine

 They took me out for lunch. They gave me some presents!

A present from Lilo, taken from her collection of antique,
hand-made lace and doilies.

Pins from their guild and the Austrian Association,
which I promptly pinned to my sewing bag.

They took me back to Lilo's apartment for coffee and a little 'show and share'...

Lilo and Dani's favorite block is
the log cabin and all its variations.

Lilo's piece was selected
for an exhibit in Houston in the mid-2000's

Work by Lilo Wesely and Daniele Samec.
Their version of a Dear Jane.
It is made using a combination of
quilter's cotton
and other very interesting fabrics.

...and a glimpse of her stash!

I felt at home in this room! She was very brave to show me.
Yes, well, we all have a stash don't we!

Later in the afternoon, I met many of the quilters from their guild.

What impressed me the most about the group was the way they all create works together!

"Blick über Wien" created by the group in 1998.
You can see the Vienna Woods on the left, the agricultural fields,
the Heurigers (Austrian vineyards),
the Prater Wheel, The Stephansdom steeple,
and a tiny bit of the Danube that flows through the city.

This week's project was a scrap quilt. Every member made one very large block. Those were cut in half and the job at the get-together was to decide on a pleasing design for the quilt top.

Everyone helped and made suggestions and in the end one of the ladies took the blocks home to sew them together.

A work in progress. Blocks pinned on their
 vertical design wall.

It will most likely get quilted by Dani who has a long-arm machine. She told me she is a beginner but I can tell you she does amazing work, all free hand and all without marking the quilt. She uses the seams as an indicator when drawing with thread.

The back of the group's raffle quilt quilted by Dani.
I love the way she used dark thread!
It makes the back of the quilt very interesting.

It really was a lovely day! Thank you to all the Patchwork Gruppe Wien members for welcoming me so warmly. Vielen Dank!!

Hundertwasser's Eastern Influence

The Orangerie at the Belvedere Palace has an exhibit on right now showing many of Hundertwasser's work.

The Big Way, 1955, was used as the advertisement
for the exhibit.

The Belvedere in Vienna.

I spent 3 hours in a small room looking at his work and reading and seeing other artists' work inspired by the writings of Zen Buddhism.

I love his art and his philosophy about creativity and life.

The curator chose some of his photographs for the exhibit. He had an image of a sewer grate covered in garbage.

Hundertwasser explained his photographs.
He said something like-
It looks like a simple sewer grate but it resembles a
prison window of our civilization. Only the filth lying
over it seems like something liberating.
It frees us from spiritual poverty and
the rectilinear structures of our modern era.

 I  was living in Vienna while he was still living there! He created a stamp for the United Nations in the 80's while my dad was working there. I have that stamp somewhere!! (when I get back to Toronto one of my first big jobs is to clean out the basement boxes!! I am sure it is in one of those.)

The Lower Belvedere where I had lunch

In 1983, while I lived inVienna, the construction of the Hundertwasser House as a public project was undergo.

He died in 2000 on the Queen Elizabeth 2 returning from New Zealand.

Art in Vienna

After a melange at my favorite place, Café Bräunerhof, I spent the morning at the Albertina.

The vertical part of the steps leading
to the main entrance of the Albertina
are painted advertising their latest exhibit, Monet bis Picasso.

I had been there since they renovated the space.

The Albertina seen from the side of the painted steps

The main walkway leading to the exhibits.

I went to see 180 works by Max Ernst.

He and some art colleagues founded the Dada group and he was a pioneer of surrealism. I particularly liked his collage work. I made a few sketches in my journal. Not being allowed to take photographs of the exhibit made me look at the work more closely.

I went to get my hair done before my ballet friends and I got together.

The hair salon, Thoma & Bari,
 is on the third floor in this building.

It was great catching up with my dance friends.

Degas' Two Dancers, c. 1905

Some I hadn't seen in 29 years!

Vienna

I forgot how impressive the Kunsthistorisches Museum is.

I forgot how Vienna is able to put together the very old with the very modern.

I forgot how clean the streets are.

I forgot how gorgeous the art galleries are and how amazing the antiques shops are.

View from my breakfast spot.
Michaelerplatz.

I forgot when you say good-bye to a well-mannered Austrian he bows forward.

Saying good-bye to friends yesterday evening.
 I was told that Maria Callas and Pablo Picasso both walked
through this entrance in Vienna's 13th district.
Upstairs lived a famous Austrian photographer
and both artists were photographed in his apartment!

I forgot that when you order coffee it comes on a little silver tray with a glass of water and a treat.

I forgot because I lived here over 30 years ago.

Lunch with a Friend

Barbara is a textile restorer.

Barbara's hand made example

After our lunch together at her house just outside Verona...

...she showed me a few of the samples she made during her textile studies.

This is the pattern for the above piece.
You'll notice it is upside down.

The work was incredible!

If you could see this up close
you would see the tiny stitching!
 It is really beautiful.

All hand done!

This is a piece of embroidery made by her grandmother.
It was never finished.

You can see that this corner is done...

...but this corner piece is not. You can see the pencil circle marks.
That is the pattern she would have followed.
Also not finished is the centre of the 4-sided shape.

Barbara is Austrian and gave me a few suggestions of what I should do in Vienna while I am here. Yesterday, I went to the Wunderkammer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna